An Acadian Building Block

The lowly brick doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Bricks can tell us so much about the houses people built for themselves. Were local materials used? How was the house constructed? How was its space organized? This partial brick comes from the Belleisle Site, a large pre-expulsion Acadian community that was located along the shores of the Annapolis River. Not many bricks were found here, leading archaeologists to suggest that they may have been used to line fireplaces. The rich, red colour of the brick, also found in the local clay, might remind you of the Bay of Fundy mudflats.